A bright green power gathers in the gunner's left hand cannon, and the Gatling gun in his right hand begins spinning. He points the gun at me, and I move to the right, meaning to move out of the way of the spray of bullets... But what comes out is instead a very wide spread of bullets, like a shotgun, wide enough that I haven't moved quickly enough to be outside its arc; I wince as the acid-coated bullets pierce my flesh once again. Suddenly, I feel another attack coming, from behind me; is that the jammer? The orbs of light around me move to form a shield, blocking the attack, a beam of paralytic black haze. But as I do that, I see the gunner unleashing the beam he's been charging, the caustic energy coming straight at my heart.
They're serious... Of course, not like I'm expecting anything else. My disguise seems to be working so far, and they aren't linking me to Hanazawa Maria, whom they think they've already killed. So it's okay for me to be a little more serious too, isn't it?
For a brief moment time seems to slow down, and the beam of acidic green energy is moving toward me at almost a snail's pace. I dissolve into light, swerve to the right and then toward the gunner, moving at a seemingly normal speed in this state of accelerated thought when everything else appears many times slower. The green beam tears into buildings as if they're made of wet tissue paper, but by then I've long since moved out of the way... relatively speaking, at least. I can't keep up this kind of accelerated mental speed for long without straining myself, but I don't need to. By the time I deactivate it, I've already moved into melee range of the gunner, as a blast of bright white and lilac comes out of my hand and strikes the gunner point-blank. It passes straight into the gunner's shoulder and torso, disrupting and jamming up any magic circuits in the way, while burning through any magical defenses it may have had. An instant later, the gunner shudders violently, sparks and smokes coming from underneath his armor. Looks like I'm right, and this is just a remotely controlled drone after all...
Suddenly, the gunner drone's backpack splits open, and a bronze spider-like robot with a large glowing green crystal attached to its back comes out of it. That must be the gunner's PCU! I prepare to unleash another blast, but then sense an abrupt and alarming rise of energy levels in the gunner drone. Its circuit lines are so much brighter now, but sizzling and crackling with energy. It's self-destructing! I quickly turn my whole body intangible, an instant before a massive burst of corrosive green magic engulfs me. At first, it still hurts, but then I pour more magic into my mana vessels to protect them, and the pain quickly disappears. A few seconds later, the blast dissipates, having dissolved all the concrete, bricks, and everything else within more than ten meters, and dug a large crater into the ground. And... The spider-like PCU is nowhere to be seen. It must have used the self-destruct as a distraction to teleport away, and the acidic explosion scoured everything around it, leaving almost no residual magic that I can use to trace back to the PCU's destination... Dammit.
Sweeping out with another scanning wave, I sense my ally impale his opponent with a spear of blue energy, and the Protectorate soldier fall to the ground, his life force rapidly fading away. I wince for a moment, but quickly steel myself. They can't be reasoned with, so this has to be done... And now there is only the jammer left. I begin sending out more scanning waves, trying to see where he's hiding.
@Bloodtypesuper is going to be away in a military training thing for the next 3 weeks, during which he isn't likely to be able to post. @Hierophant was going to have his character Wormwood join in on the current fight, but now he's also going to be busy for the next 3-4 weeks. So at least considering the current fight going on, there wouldn't be any meaningful progress for some while. @DarkwolfX37 said he'd also join in, but he hadn't made anything more than one post. If he joins in now, I could go somewhere with that.
Also, you said you'll be posting more things with Agnostos and Jack, didn't you? You could do that now. I could also have the current PCUs in the fight call for reinforcements, which could be Carl and Jung, if you finish those characters.
@BCTheEntity will be thinking of something to post tomorrow as well.
@Sawdust: How are things coming along for you? Still have writer's block?
A mind learns by taking in information through various sensory organs, and processing that information. Different minds learn at different rates, and more complex information requires more time and effort to process. Thus, even if raw information is telepathically injected into a mind’s memory somehow, the mind still needs time to digest and assimilate the information, and will not be immediately able to use the information well; this is especially true with information on skills that require subconscious muscle memory of any kind. Nevertheless, telepathic information exchange is one of the more efficient ways of learning.
Anything that doesn't have human mana vessels connected to a soul will be classified as a "spirit", i.e. non-human, and needs a human partner to achieve full power in the human world. More specifically, this applies to soulless beings and magical artifacts that are technically not spirits, but are still treated as spirits by the Seals for this reason.
Added this to the first post, in the section about soul pacts.
A mind is an exceedingly complex object, only marginally less complex than the soul itself. Thus, trying to replicate a mind is highly difficult, and the result will usually be an imperfect copy. And because of the complexity of the copying process, the exact imperfections are likely different each time, pseudo-random and almost impossible to predict. Copying a copy will cause the imperfections to accumulate, eventually causing the copies to be very different from the original, and from each other too.
Name: Asmodeus; the Crimson Fiend; the Lord of Fire and Brimstone; the Prince of Darkness; the Demon Prince of Pride.
Species: Pit fiend.
Alignment: Dark.
Partner: None. Asmodeus typically stays in Hell, and possesses humans using his Ashen Avatars; see Soulshards.
Faction: The Infernal Legion.
Sex: Male.
Age: Exact number unknown, but known to be at least 6000.
Appearance:
The visage of Asmodeus is perhaps the most triumphant example of any modern depictions of the red-skinned devil. His body is humanoid in shape, 180 cm in height, with a muscular, imposing physical build, covered in crimson, lizard-like scales. His head is bald, but with a pair of black, bull-like horns of black stone extruding from it and pointing upward, as well as a number of smaller black horns and spikes that are vaguely arranged in the shape of a crown. His facial features are completely obscured by an obsidian mask that is merged into his horns, the mask featureless except for eye holes, molten veins, and rows of jagged teeth that allow the mask to split apart at the mouth; underneath the mask is a face entirely covered by almost impossibly heavy scars that appear perpetually molten and burning. His irises are burning crimson and snake-like, floating in sclerae of pitch black. His fingers and toes end in sharp, black talons. A pair of large, red, leathery bat-like wings with black claws protrude from his back, and he has a long, thick, lizard-like tail as well. But the most notable feature of his body, when not covered by clothing, is the mass of half-molten black stone where his heart is, seemingly filling a fist-sized hole. Veins of red-hot obsidian extend from the stone and snake across the rest of his body, and the molten power seems to pulse in-sync with the demon's heartbeat.
Asmodeus normally wears a set of highly opulent robes of black and red. The fabric appears perpetually singed with fire and ashes, but never seems to deteriorate as a result. Countless demonic runes can be seen on the robe, which slowly pulse with red light, in sync with the Crimson Fiend's power. When additional defense is needed, the robes are replaced with a suit of heavy obsidian armor, with numerous spikes protruding from it, and the same demonic runes carved into the black plates as letters of molten stone. The armor covers his wings, and tail as well, and appears as interlinked black stone scales wherever more flexibility is needed; the helm is merged with the mask that he always wears.
Asmodeus has no human form, as he refuses to play by the rules of such insignificant creatures.
Aura: The black and red aura of Asmodeus resembles all at once scorching fire, crushing stone, flesh-devouring acid, deadly poison, and the darkness of utter, inescapable ruin. It is potent enough to bring many to despair with its mere presence.
Personality:
The personality of Asmodeus exemplifies many of the worst traits of demonkind, and is one that many people will label as “irredeemably evil”. Having been the demon prince of Wrath, and now Pride, his mind almost entirely revolves around these two “sins”.
Asmodeus’s all-consuming lust for power is astounding even for a member of what is ostensibly an entire race of power-hungry madmen. He will stop at nothing to make himself ever more powerful, beyond all limits and reason. Becoming the most powerful of demons is only the humblest of beginnings for him, and it frustrates him to no end that he is currently unable to increase his own power any further through natural means. He sees all else in existence as inherently, absolutely, objectively inferior to himself in every way possible, and nothing pleases him more than trampling and abusing the worthless trash beneath him with overwhelming power to demonstrate his infinite superiority. No amount of power is enough for him, and he will continually, endlessly seek ways to widen the gap in power between his almighty self and the rest of the vermin in the universe, and dominate the vermin with said power.
With such a prideful personality, it’s natural that Asmodeus hates nothing more than those who dare to think that they’re superior to him in any way. Among his subjects he is a brutal tyrant, and any who even show the slightest hint of disobedience will be instantly obliterated, while the more audacious ones will be tortured and broken until they only wish that death will take them. Grudgingly, he knows that he has no choice but to accept the rest of the demon princes as his peers, but it pleases him to know that he remains by far the strongest and most dominant force in Hell. And even then, he plans to one day ultimately take all the power for himself, and crush the other demon princes under his heel like anyone else who dare to oppose him. And, of course, he despises the Celestiarchy’s God for claiming to be above him, and viciously hates Satan for having done the same and openly humiliated Asmodeus as well.
The other aspects of Asmodeus’s personality can be said to be typical of many demons. He is utterly selfish and amoral to the core, having not the slightest care whatsoever about anything other than his own benefit. He sees all other beings as tools to be exploited, obstacles to be removed, and eventually subjects to be dominated. He is entirely devoid of compassion, honor, respect, or any other such virtues, and there is nothing that he will not resort to in order to fulfill his own goals. He was once brash and impulsive, but had since then developed a deadly cunning, intellect, and patience through the millennia. He appears quite calm and reasonable, if cold and ruthless, when interacting with those that he must accept as peers, up until the point when he concludes that he can now afford to show his true colors and crush these former peers like he had crushed all the others.
Asmodeus has little in the way of personal interests and hobbies, aside from power and domination, though he does find violence, destruction, torment, and the harsh conditions of Hell to be aesthetically pleasant. He indulges in carnal pleasures from time to time, but such things are ultimately secondary to him.
Biography:
The true origin of Asmodeus had always been shrouded in mystery. He was the last of the original seven demon princes to appear, having presented himself to Satan’s court approximately a century after Hell’s creation. He was a horrific wretch of a man then, with heavy scars all over his body that seemed to eternally burn and bleed molten flames. The scars even ran soul-deep, and the more astute of demons could sense in him that his very mantle had been forcibly ripped away. When asked, he simply said that he was “a man who had lost everything”, and that he had come to “accept [Satan’s] offer” because there were no other paths for him. But despite the man’s dubious origins, none could deny the immense power they felt in him, which only became more pronounced as he left with Satan to someplace unknown and returned days later as the red-skinned pit fiend Asmodeus. The scars on his face never healed, however, and he had been wearing a black mask to hide them ever since.
In the next couple of centuries, Asmodeus rapidly became one of the most feared of all demons in the Infernal Legion, because of both his terrifying power and his burning, seemingly all-consuming rage and hatred for the Celestiarchy and any who opposed him, earning him the title of the demon prince of Wrath. Yet he was also ambitious, and bore hateful sentiments toward Satan himself that no one else quite understood. After growing confident in his power, Asmodeus thought of defeating Satan and taking his throne, for Hell was ruled by the strong; he tirelessly trained for decades then and openly challenged Satan to a duel. To his shock and horror, Satan utterly crushed him, seemingly without much effort, even though Asmodeus was sure that the gulf in power between them could not possibly have been that great. The scathing humiliation he suffered only further cemented Asmodeus’s hatred of Satan, and he vowed to himself that he would one day destroy the Prince of Darkness, no matter how long it had to take or what he had to do. As he matured, his rage gave way to a relentless lust for power, or perhaps that was simply the consequence of his soul warping from the strain as he used every method he could think of, many of them with highly questionable safety, to increase his deadliness in battle. And he bid his time, pretending to be subservient to Satan no matter how much he despised the very notion of such a thing, while waiting for an opportunity to crush the Prince of Darkness with his own hands. Over time, vast legions of demons came under his command, and Asmodeus’s power and influence in Hell became second to only those of Satan himself.
Aside from Asmodeus himself, several of the other demon princes also felt that Satan’s strictly disciplined, militaristic rule limited their own ambitions and desires. But most demons were selfish, backstabbing creatures, and the princes were no exception. Would-be rebels were always brutally destroyed, and those who exposed the rebels handsomely rewarded by Satan, a fact that prevented the demon princes from uniting against Satan for the longest time, in fear of betrayal from one of their own; the time for usurpation would only come after several millennia. In the early 1900s AD, terrible wars raged across the human world, ending millions of lives, and their violent deaths resulted in a significant portion of the souls to stream into Hell. Every noteworthy demon grasped for these newly arrived souls, seeking to increase the ranks of their followers. It was then that the demon princes were approached by Lucifuge Rofocale, Satan’s trusted personal assistant, who offered to expose Satan’s weaknesses in exchange for release from the Infernal Legion’s services. Seeing this as an opportunity they could not let pass, the demon princes agreed. Taking advantage of Satan’s trust in Lucifuge, they secretly built a magical trap over the next several years, right under Satan’s nose, while expanding their forces from World War II’s dead. The shrewd being he was, Satan managed to discover the trap, and even tampered with it to build in his own backdoor escape route. But with information from Lucifuge, the demon princes were able to sabotage the backdoor, and render it completely ineffective when they finally sprang the trap. Locked inside his own throne room, with every conceivable way of escape cut off, Satan was forced to fight the other six demon princes all at once. Even with such a significant advantage, the demon princes experienced a painful first-hand demonstration of why power alone often wasn’t enough to win a fight, as Satan’s unrivaled battle prowess severely injured and crippled several of the demon princes before they were finally able to put him down. When he felt that his demise was certain, Satan seemed to sacrifice every last drop of power in his soul to unleash a devastating curse upon his traitorous former subordinates. Not only did it deprive Asmodeus the pleasure of killing Satan personally, it also afflicted him with severe weakness that took years to fully recover from. The weaker demon princes suffered even more greatly, and a few of them were slain during their periods of vulnerability. Nevertheless, the Infernal Legion bowed down to the strong, and the demon princes had demonstrated the superiority of strength over the now-dead Prince of Darkness. Most of Satan’s followers abandoned their former leader, and those still loyal were swiftly quelled by the demon princes’ own forces, whose numbers were bolstered by the souls of World War II casualties. Now the strongest demon in Hell, Asmodeus took up the throne of the Prince of Darkness, and none dared to object.
Since his ascension, Asmodeus had taken a far more brutal and aggressive approach in leading the Infernal Legion. Satan commanded avoidance of unnecessary casualties and destruction as much as possible, especially regarding Neutral territories, but Asmodeus had no such qualms, and instead encouraged the Legion to spread as much ruin and despair as possible to all who dared to defy Hell. Additionally, Satan had forbidden the use of power from the Abyssal Gate, deeming it far too dangerous and uncontrollable, but now that he was out of the way, Asmodeus was free to access the Gate as he pleased. With the other demon princes’ help, Asmodeus extracted the eldritch energies of the Abyss, and with them they forged the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, demonic superweapons whose powers dwarfed that of Satan himself. Of course, having had the most active hand in the Horsemen’s creation, Asmodeus secretly installed backdoors in the psyches of these harbingers of destruction to ensure that they would obey him alone, when the time comes. And now, Asmodeus is preparing to march against his other greatest enemy, the Celestiarchy and their so-called God, as another step in his plans for eventual world domination.
Skills:
Indomitable Ego: Being the demon prince of Pride, Asmodeus possesses an exceedingly powerful ego that is practically immune to doubt. He simply shrugs off the majority of mind-influencing effects used against him, and those that he can’t shrug off altogether are strongly resisted.
Cunning: One does not survive for thousands of years in Hell’s upper echelons by being a fool. Shrewd, patient, opportunistic, and amoral, there is nothing Asmodeus won’t resort to in order to further his self-interest.
Dominating Presence: Many powerful beings can bring weaker people to their knees through presence alone, and Asmodeus is especially good at this feat. He knows how to speak, act, and use magic in ways that emphasize his crushing, ruinous power, causing lesser beings to cower in fear and chilling the hearts of even confident beings.
Spiritual Knowledge: As one of the oldest spirits in existence, Asmodeus possesses a vast amount of knowledge of almost all aspects of magic and the spirit world.
Martial Prowess: Honed by millennia of brutal combat and warfare, Asmodeus is an exceptionally dangerous physical fighter, proficient in a great number of weapons and fighting styles, both melee and ranged.
Languages: Asmodeus can speak most of the major languages in the world. The knowledge was torn from the minds of his countless victims, and Asmodeus hadn’t put more thought into it than what’s strictly needed for practical communication. So while he can competently speak each language, he has no care for any of its more subtle artistic nuances, and it will be obvious to many that he is not a native speaker.
Abilities:
One of the strongest demons to ever exist, Asmodeus is second in power to only Satan. With the latter’s demise, he is currently the most powerful demon in Hell, and almost none dare to face him in a one-on-one fair fight.
The magic of Asmodeus revolves around the elements of fire, stone, acid, poison, and darkness, which he can manipulate and combine with deadly skill and terrifying power.
Hellfire: Asmodeus’s most oft-used magic is a hellish, all-consuming black and red fire. The demonic energies infusing it allows the flames to burn even otherwise non-flammable and fire-resistant materials, if they haven’t already been vaporized by the fire’s intense heat.
Brimstone: The origin of the Biblical term “fire and brimstone”, this magic creates pitch-black volcanic obsidian-like stone with an acrid smell. The stone is dense and highly durable, allowing it to be formed into weapons and armor alike. This black stone is frequently imbued with hellfire to create red-hot magma, making it more fluid while only sacrificing some small amounts of durability, in addition to the scorching heat it now emits. It can also dissolve into a thick volcanic ashen smoke, trading solidity for drastically increased speed, and potentially pressure as well. Asmodeus can use his dark power to transmute mundane earthen materials into this black stone, which he can then manipulate. He can also control his black stone remotely through hyperspace, and use it as a teleportation beacon.
Lake of Fire: Asmodeus’s most powerful attack, which transmutes a large area around himself into a lake of scorching magma. It then rises up to swallow opponents whole and scorch them with unimaginable heat, and can also solidify to crush them with immense pressure.
Ashborn: Asmodeus can transform his own body into black stone, with the standard weaknesses of amorphous beings. It will automatically transform if wounded, and Asmodeus can use manipulation of the black stone to repair said wounds, even though he is otherwise not adept at healing magic.
Ashen Will: Asmodeus can invade the minds of beings in contact with his black stone, with the standard limitations of telepathy. He is more skilled in inflicting mental damage and prying information from an enemy’s memories than any subtler effects.
Liquid Agony: This ability creates a sizzling acidic liquid of dark, fiery orange. It is exceedingly corrosive, and its dark power allows it to eat away at acid-resistant materials as well. The acid’s magic also causes excruciating pain in whatever sensory organ it touches, searing the victim’s mind and attempting to burn through even magical pain suppression. The blood of Asmodeus is made of this acid, and any melee-range attack on him risks a retaliatory spray of the deadly liquid. He also frequently combines the acid with his ashen smoke, to turn the gas caustic.
Soulsbane: Asmodeus can conjure a poisonous, inky black energy that curses victims with a variety of negative effects, including weakness, paralysis, confounded senses, and damage over time that causes the victim to rot away. The magical nature of the poison allows it to affect poison-resistant victims as well. This ability is rarely used alone, instead usually imbued into Asmodeus’s other attacks to give them additional lingering effects.
Abyssal Ruin: By analyzing the true, unadulterated dark power of the Abyss, having had the opportunity to do such after overthrowing Satan and gaining access to the Abyssal Gate, Asmodeus has learned to mimic some of its effects. He can produce a pitch-black energy that appears to devour all light around it, while emitting its own dark, blood red light, as well as a sense of inexplicable dread that’s quite unlike any other demonic power, except perhaps the power of Satan himself. As far as most beings can tell, this pseudo-Abyssal energy inflicts the kind of matter decay and disintegration on touch that’s standard for many Dark-aligned offensive energy types, but is somehow considerably more damaging and harder to resist per unit of energy; few things other than raw defensive power has proven to be effective in nullifying its damage. However, Asmodeus appears to be not particularly skilled at controlling this energy, and only uses it when he truly means to hold nothing back.
Dark Rituals: Using his extensive knowledge of Dark magic, Asmodeus can perform many Dark-aligned magical rituals with effects that he cannot directly produce with his own magic. As usual, these require preparation, time, and focus, and are weaker than Asmodeus’s own abilities.
Soulshards:
Ashen Avatar: Multiple copies of this soulshard can be created without the usual inefficiencies. They take on the forms of constructs of black stone that Asmodeus sends out, controlled by his mind, while his soul stays on his throne in Hell. Asmodeus can transfer his soul into an Ashen Avatar, thereby making it his true body, but he rarely does this, as he prefers to stay in Hell. Asmodeus has no true human partner, and instead uses his Ashen Avatars to possess humans, dominate them with Ashen Will, and force them to do his bidding. As the infernal ash enters a victim’s body, her skin will become charred and molten; she will literally burn out and be reduced to cinders as she inevitably expires from being forced to channel the Crimson Fiend’s baleful power.
Devil's Pitchfork: The original inspiration for humans’ depiction of a horned, red-skinned devil wielding a pitchfork, this weapon is an elaborate trident crafted from the black stone of Asmodeus. Fiery demonic sigils can be seen all over the pitch-black shaft, and the weapon’s three viciously barbed prongs are perpetually red-hot and brimming with dark power. It is exceptionally durable, and serves as a powerful conduit of Asmodeus’s infernal magic.
Infernal Raiment: These are the clothes that Asmodeus wears, normally taking the form of opulent red robes and an obsidian mask, but change to a suit of demonic black armor when in battle. In addition to its immense defensive power, it also channels Asmodeus’s destructive magic to enhance melee attacks and retaliation.
Heart of Hell: This is the mass of half-molten black stone that fills the hole in Asmodeus’s chest where his heart once was, before it was torn out by Satan’s blade in their duel millennia ago. Instead of healing the wound as usual, Asmodeus created this soulshard to replace his heart, as a reminder of the humiliation he felt and his hatred toward Satan. Modified to be no longer reliant on the fleshy vital organs it once had, the body of Asmodeus is regulated by this Heart of Hell, but one would be foolish to assume that it is a weak point. If the Heart is broken or removed, the body overflows with demonic power that the Heart once regulated, and Asmodeus enters hyper mode. His entire body becomes molten magma, and at the location of his heart there is now a hole where hellfire endlessly bleeds forth. As usual for hyper modes, Asmodeus’s abilities will be significantly boosted, but he will tire out quickly; a new Heart of Hell will be formed when the hyper mode ends.
[Just so it's clear, if you find that Maria's internal narration style has changed compared to her initial few posts, it's because she's in one of her trance states at the moment. Each trance changes her personality somewhat, with a corresponding shift in narration style.]
Hanazawa Maria
Sorry, my partner is busy at the moment, I telepathically reply to the person. But it's alright, I should be able to handle these other people!
Okay... Disguising myself as an angel to try to gain my allies' trust turned out to be both unnecessary and counterproductive. Maybe I should have stayed hidden instead... No, it's okay, my old body is still lying there on the ground, and for now they seem to think that it's nothing more than just a dead body. So I can still look for an opportunity, and suddenly spring a trap from there...
Not bothering to stay hidden anymore, I sweep out with a full telepathic scan, though still careful to only use as much power as necessary; I don't want the Protectorate to gain more information about my magical capabilities than I can avoid. With this amount of power, seeing through the sensory-disruptive black fog is still not easy... But I still manage to quickly find the location of the gunner. This time, a powerful beam of green energy comes from him, but I dodge away enough in time that it only singes the upper part of my left wing. Ow... What a caustic power. Even though my wings are made of pure mana, it still kind of hurts. I quickly repair the wing, and turn into white energy, rapidly phasing through walls to arrive at where the gunner is.
When he comes into view, I'm surprised to find that the gunner... isn't really human. Yes, his aura feels just barely human enough, but... his body appears entirely mechanical, made of some bronze-colored metal, with rough circuit lines of acidic green running through it. The middle of his body appears melted with acid, but clearly in the process of fusing back together, where the other person's bullet had torn him in half earlier. Instead of a left hand, he has an arm cannon, with tubes extending out of it and connected to something like a small mechanical backpack; that's where I sense his spirit partner is. And... I don't feel there is actually a human soul in this mechanical shell? Is it just a remotely-controlled drone? Is that why it survived being torn in half?
My eyes lock with the gunner's visor for a moment, purple staring into toxic green.
"...is there any way we can resolve this peacefully?" I begin. "I'm sure I can-"
"You're sure you can sway me from my purpose that easily?" The Protectorate gunner's voice is cold. "Don't make me laugh."
Multiple openings on his chest suddenly form. Each releases a jet of sizzling green fire, blasting him backwards away from me, and the exhaust leaves a thick cloud of acidic smoke. Through the cloud, I can barely see his right arm whirl into the shape of something with multiple barrels, before he lets loose a barrage of bronze bullets. As the bullets travel through the cloud, they evidently become coated in acid, which painfully burn my flesh and magic circuits as they tear into me. Agh, that's not nice...
"I gave you a chance..." I call out, dejected that this one too refuses to compromise, just like almost every other member of the Protectorate... "I'm sorry." The holes torn into my body quickly heal, and orbs of soft, dreamy white light materialize around me, as I prepare to take him down as painlessly as possible.
Last night, I updated the section on magic circuits, so it now has more information on soulless beings. But basically, what Hierophant said.
@FrozenEcstasy: I'll comment on your super soldier character later. But for now, I'll make it so that one of the members of the Protectorate hit squad that's currently attacking Maria, James, and Lancelot is one of those super soldiers, or at least a prototype.
Right but I meant glaring things like exposed joints or something.
As I said, the Protectorate's engineers are actually not totally incompetent, so there won't be any glaringly obvious weak points like exposed joints. The humanoid PCUs can be assumed to have anatomical structures that are at least somewhat similar to a human's, so you could go for human weak points as an educated guess, but it's obviously not guaranteed to work.
Also, I should point out that not all PCUs have very similar auras. The more developed ones have their own unique auras just like normal spirits, and the most developed ones even have their full individual personalities.
Edit: I rewrote section 2.1.8 of the Codex. Now it elaborates more on how a soul actually develops, and also states the limitations on creating souls.
Edit: Just tell me if I got anything about how the Protectorate might experiment wrong.
Edit x2: I started earlier in preperation xD
I'll do that through PM.
Can you describe the PCUs? Specifically if they have any weak points that could kill or disable them?
That's not really decided yet, actually. I'll decide in my next post or something, when I actually need to. As for weak points, there won't be anything glaringly obvious, because the Protectorate's engineers aren't stupid. Not to mention metagaming isn't allowed, so even if I told you, it wouldn't be useful to your characters, unless they can figure it out themselves in-game.
Oops, seems like that was the wrong move... If being "hunted" is a concern to them at all, then they can't be with the Celestiarchy after all? Maybe I can switch to a different trance, and... No, that'll only make them even more suspicious.
"Please relax," I begin to say. "I am not from the Celestiarchy, and I'm not here to hunt-"
My reflexes warn me of a sudden movement. The gunner on their side... He's still alive! I barely move in time to erect a barrier of solid white light, as it stops the enchanted bullet from continuing its way toward the person on the rooftop.
"Our business here is already finished, angel, and it does not involve you," the armored PCU speaks, its voice flat and emotionless and reminding me of cold steel. "But your existence alone is a threat to us, so you must die."
No... Dammit, why does it always have to be like this? I-
Another wave of blinding energy comes, a much stronger one this time, covering the whole area in a thick dark haze. Immediately after, I feel something slam into me from the left, a blade digging into my flesh. Is that the PCU's human partner? He doesn't seem impeded by the fog...
A fight seems inevitable. I wish it doesn't have to be like this, but I really have no choice. I'm sorry, whatever your names are...
I unleash a burst of solid light from me, pushing back both the PCU and the other attacker. At the same time, I send out a wave of a more ethereal light, momentarily clearing away the dark fog around us. "Yes, I will help you!" I shout to both the indistinct blur next to me and the person back on the rooftop, while materializing a sword of light. "Can you take the lead?"
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